Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is a man with a tainted past, an ex-basketball coach that has turned into a sour aging man. Shooter (Dennis Hopper) is an ex-player whose life has made a turn for the worse. Drinking himself into a stupor everyday, Shooter's once bright and hopeful future is now just a faint memory. But when Coach Dale and Shooter get together and decide to turn the local basketball team into something worth watching, they discover they may still have some tricks up their sleeves. First they must get past Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey), a stern teacher whose goal it is to keep the star player out of the team. Then they must attempt to talk some sense into the undisciplined basketball players who have doubts themselves.